Galatians 6 : Easy-to-Read Version
Help Each Other
6 1Brothers [and sisters], a person in your group might do something wrong. You people who are spiritual should go to the person who is sinning. You should help to make him right again. You should do this in a gentle way. But be careful! You might be tempted to sin, too. 2Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you truly obey the law of Christ. 3If a person thinks that he is important when he is really not important, he is only fooling himself. 4A person should not compare himself with other people. Each person should judge his own actions. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done. 5Each person must accept his own responsibility. 6The person who is learning the teaching of God should share all the good things he has with the person who is teaching him.
Life Is Like Planting a Field
7Don't be fooled: You cannot cheat God. A person harvests only the things he plants.* 8If a person plants (lives) to satisfy his sinful self, then his sinful self will bring him eternal death. But if a person plants to please the Spirit,* he will get eternal life from the Spirit. 9We must not become tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest [of eternal life] at the right time. We must not give up! 10When we have the opportunity to do good to any person, we should do it. But we should give special attention to the people that are in the family of believers (the church).
Paul Ends His Letter
11I am writing this myself. See what big letters I use. 12Some men are trying to force you to be circumcised.* They do these things so that other people (the Jews) will accept them. Those men are afraid they will be criticized if they follow only the cross of Christ.* 13Those men are circumcised, but they don't obey the law* themselves. They want you to be circumcised. Then they can boast about what they forced you to do. 14I hope I will never boast about things like that. The cross (death) of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for boasting. Through Jesus' death on the cross the world is dead* to me; and I am dead to the world. 15It is not important if a person is circumcised or not circumcised. The important thing is being the new people God has made. 16Peace and mercy to the people who follow this rule--to all of God's people. 17So don't give me any more trouble. I have scars on my body. These scars show* that I belong to Christ Jesus. 18My brothers [and sisters], I pray that the grace (kindness) of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirits. Amen.
harvests only the things he plants Paul uses these words about farming to show that life is like a farmer planting a field. A farmer will get from the field only what he plants. Spirit, Holy Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. Joined with God and Christ, he does God's work among people in the world. circumcised To have the foreskin cut off. This was done to every Jewish baby boy. It was a mark of the agreement God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). cross of Christ Paul uses the cross as a picture of the Good News, the story of Christ's death to pay for men's sins. law God's law. It is represented in the law of Moses. is dead Literally, "has been crucified." These scars show Many times Paul was beaten by people who were against him because he was teaching about Christ. The scars were from these beatings.